Three tiny moon rocks go up for auction as the 50th anniversary of NASA’s lunar missions stirs nostalgia for the Cold War space race

Moon rocks will hit the auction block this week as collectors vie for hundreds of vintage artifacts that embody a growing nostalgia for the triumphs of the Cold War space race.

In a sale Thursday devoted to space exploration, Sotheby’s is auctioning three tiny shards of moon rock that it estimates will sell for up to $1 million. The fragments were brought to Earth not by American Apollo astronauts, who were the first people to land there, but by a spindly unmanned craft launched by the Soviet Union.